But believe this: Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon has superstar written all over him.

Sure MacKinnon is barely 18 years old. There will be bad nights rough stretches and hard lessons.

MacKinnon however is a game changer.

He might not ever be as good as Joe Sakic or Peter Forsberg. But the long-suffering Avalanche should be in the race for a playoff berth all season long because the team was smart enough to select Mac Kinnon over Seth Jones a defenseman with local ties in the NHL draft.

"All I want from MacKinnon is so simple: Be himself" Avs coach Patrick Roy said. "There's going to be expectations. People will expect him to win the Calder Trophy. But that's the final product. The start is: Be who you are. Don't try to be the player anybody else expects. That's easy to say but it's tough to do."

There are 10 technical aspects of MacKinnon's game that can cause you to shake your head in wonder. But what sold me is how a teenager responded to the attempt by Anaheim's Ben Lovejoy to intimidate MacKinnon during his first NHL game.